Last week I had the pleasure of facilitating a brainstorming session for the administrative staff and their supervisors for an entire department. The goal of the session was to provide an environment for the administrative staff to share their work and job experiences so that improvements could be identified and collaborations could be sought. To set the tone for the day, I began by introducing the Japanese term Yokoten. It was a new term for me. Isn’t it a fun word to say?!! Here is what it means:
Yoko = horizontal, lateral, sideways
Tenkai = develop, deploy, advance
Yokoten = horizontal deployment
Shared learning, based on experience or observation, across an organization.
Yokoten is:
– Knowledge and best practice sharing
– Horizontal, peer-to-peer dissemination of information
– Spreading wisdom to areas who have similar processes
– Communication – sharing ideas, thoughts
– Going and see
– An understanding of WHY something is a best practice
– Copy pluskaizen